What do I need to do in order to prepare for my facelift in two weeks?

What do I need to do in order to prepare for my facelift in two weeks? Should I be cleansing or moisturizing my face any specific way?

Answer:

I think it’s fantastic that you are going to have your facelift soon. I think that the preparation before the facelift procedure is very important. There are two basic areas that should be prepared. I recommend all patients to use retinols for the skin. There are various creams that contain retinols. I personally recommend the Environ line, but there are several others. Retinol is vitamin A, which is the most important vitamin for the skin. It acts to thicken the epidermis, increase cell turn over, and repair damaged cells. All of things amount to a very healthy skin. All patients should always be on retinols. The only exceptions are those people that are pregnant and those that are heavily exposed to the sun. If you are currently not on retinol therapy, now is a good time to start. I recommend that you start on a very low dose, to allow your skin to get accustomed to the retinol. Over the next few weeks, you can begin to increase the concentration of retinol you are using. The other preparation I ask patient to begin before surgery is the intake of high dose vitamin C. I ask that the patient begin 2000 mg of vitamin C two weeks before the facelift. In fact, I ask all patients that are going to have plastic surgery to begin this regimen. They continue this for 2 weeks after their cosmetic surgery. In addition, all medications that may interfere with blood clotting, such as aspirin, Motrin, Advil, and others are discontinued. After the facelift, patients are asked to start drinking pineapple juice to help bring down the swelling. When these instructions are followed, the swelling is quickly reduced and recovery is rapid.